Foxcroft and Ginger – 3 Berwick St, Soho, London, W1F 0DR, UK

With the “endeavour to serve London’s Best Sandwich” in mind, the chefs at Foxcroft and Ginger spend their time researching techniques to enhance each powerful flavour and to match them with an unsuspecting partner. Set in an industrial warehouse-style space, they served up a Toulouse sausage, home-made onion jam, and herb salad all on their own Ciabatta bun.

“I almost didn’t buy this burger as I was quite scared of the large, crusty Ciabatta bun and the fact that it had been pre-made. I was even more intimidated when it was served on a giant plank of wood. All these factors combined resulted in me being pleasantly surprised as to how awesome it actually tasted. It had really rustic individual flavours that tasted amazing on their own and even better together. This is the kind of place where you’d love to try everything on the menu.”

Stamford Plaza Hotel – 111 Little Collins St, Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia

Located at the top end of Melbourne’s CBD, the Stamford Plaza Hotel houses a small and conveniently located cafe/restaurant. With a fit out that can’t really be described as having one particular style: Chesterfield couches, a Roman-style mural on a domed roof, iron frame outdoor chairs and some sort of oriental painted wall. Its a real wonder what they’re trying to achieve? We decided to give their Stamford 100% Beef Burger a go which comes with a beef pattie, salad, chips, onion rings, tomoato relish, and pickled Lebanese cucumber.

“Well, well, well, what can I say! Don’t go there to see what you think, coz I can assure you that you’ll be as disappointed as I was. There just wasn’t anything good about this burger. From the surroundings to the wait time (it wasn’t even busy), and ofcourse the burger itself. I won’t bother listing what was wrong with it coz all I can say is nothing was right.”

“The best way to improve this burger is to replace the beef with better beef, the salad with better salad, the bun with a better bun, add cheese and halve the price. Once this is done it might be worth checking out. The highlight of this Burger Adventure was listening to the new Usher album that was on in the background, and I don’t even like Usher.”

“I have this rule I try to live by. Basically if I don’t have anything good to say, I’d rather not say anything at all. However, since this is a burger review I will try to keep it short. The whole burger experience was disappointing. It started with a 30+ min wait for a burger that only really had 5 ingredients in it, on a quiet night where there weren’t any people in the restaurant. The pattie, the bun and whatever was in that burger was so subpar I cant even begin to tell you. But what really stuck out to me was the over-cooked, tasteless pattie. Really disappointed.”

“I’m hopefully saying this for the last time; the Turkish bread is not fooling anyone. It does not make your burger more fancy, more exotic or give you an excuse to charge a ridiculous price for it. Please stop using it! Also when a menu says one thing and you get another, there is a real problem (no onion rings, no tomato relish and what Lebanese cucumber?). I really hope for the Hotel’s sake that they were just having an off day.”

Veselka – 144 2nd Ave, East Village, New York, NY, USA

Ever been wandering around Manhattan’s East Village at 3am craving Ukrainian food? Sure you have. With a long history and cased in 50 years of tradition, Veselka offers a dining experience that may have you waiting in line. Lucky for you they’re open 24/7, so you’ll never need to be in a rush to eat. Along with their traditional Ukrainian dishes like Pierogi and Bigos, you’ll find a selection of burgers. I opted for something a little different and went for the South Western Burger, otherwise known as the Veselka Bison Burger. Between two toasted pieces of Sesame seeded bun was the Bison meat pattie, Pepper Jack Cheese, lettuce, tomato, Chipotle Mayonnaise and a choice of either french fries or sweet potato fries. This is all accompanied by a nice and juicy pickle.

“First off, Veselka was recommended to me by the lovely Robyn from A Hamburger Today. I had walked past it earlier during my travels and thought of it as more of an quirky little restaurant with a few regulars and the odd foot traffic stopping in for a bite. Boy was I wrong. When I mentioned this place to a few Australian friends living in NYC, they told me how this place had been recommended to them by practically everyone they met when they first arrived. So its fair to say Veselka has quite the reputation amongst New Yorkers. Having Polish heritage and growing up on Pierogi and Bigos, I’m naturally a little bit blazé when it comes to Eastern European dining. But when I heard they were offering up a Bison burger, I got excited.
I ordered my burger medium-rare (sadly they cooked it medium) and with a side of sweet potato fries. When it came out, the lettuce, tomato and pickle were on the side and allowed you to build your own burger (a nice touch considering we’re always complaining about too much lettuce in burgers). After the dipping of a few fantastic sweet potato chips, the side of Chipotle Mayonnaise immediately met the insides of my burger. The Bison meat was lean yet juicy, but the flavour was too basic for my liking. It could have done with more seasoning. Adding a nice bite was the Pepper Jack; it was melted beautifully all over the pattie and bottom half of the bun. Overall, my first experience with Bison was good, but it just doesn’t melt in your mouth the way top-notch beef does. Next time I get back to NYC I’ll definitely be stopping by to try their Cheeseburger. I might even go at 3am.”

The Local Taphouse – 184 Carlisle Street, St Kilda East,
Victoria, Australia

For years some of us at The Burger Adventure have enjoyed the relaxed, friendly and unpretentious environment that The Local has to offer. Since it first opened in 2001 it has undergone some really big changes (for the best) and is now offering some really good food choices (Bar and Restaurant Menus), comfy restaurant seating, more couches for the bar and a great rooftop area to sit and enjoy the balmy nights to come this summer. We went for the 3 Beer Beef Burger (Bar Menu) it had Shlenkerla Rauchbier (smoke beer) marinated beef, cheese with beer battered onion rings, Trumer Pils Aioli and beer battered fries. A good feed and a good time to share with some close friends..

“The idea to put these onion rings in the burger was genius. I just wish there was more of them on the plate aswell. Everything squished down into a juicy mess of aweseomenes. The only thing I would change is the bun; I just hate flour all over it.”

“Loved every bite of it. What I still remember was that char-grilled flavour the pattie had. In addition to a good, thick, well-seasoned pattie all the ingredients held their own. There was a ample amount of cheese, rocket and tomato. The onion rings were great and not too oily, and the chips, well…. they are beer battered and are awesome. To enjoy this burger even more try it with the Budvar Pilsener to wash down all that beefy goodness.”

“This was honestly pretty special. All of the ingredients were of the finest quality. In fact, looking at the photo again is making my mouth water. I can only describe it as elegantly creamy, like the flavours were all whispering secrets to my taste-buds. Don’t forget to grab a beer either mate!”

Gourmet Burger Kitchen – 160 Portobello Rd, Notting Hill,
London, W11 2EB, UK

GBK was founded in 2001 by 3 Kiwis. Since then it has rapidly expanded to over 50 restaurants in the UK, and now includes international locations such as Ireland, Turkey, Greece, Dubai and Oman. With a diverse menu that even has one burger using mango and ginger, head-chef Peter Gordon uses a new and innovative approach towards traditional burger recipes. This particular Adventure however, tackled their classic Cheeseburger, which uses aged cheddar atop 100% Aberdeen Angus Beef with salad, mayonnaise and relish.

“These guys really take pride in their burgers. I could really taste the freshness of all of the ingredients. However, when the price is taken into consideration you think you’d be getting something a little more special. The beef was evenly cooked and well seasoned, and the crunch from the Spanish onion rounded out quite an enjoyable burger. They have so many options on their menu, I really want to get back there to try them all. I’d best start saving my pennies now then…”

In-N-Out Burger – 7009 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, California, USA

Starting out in 1948 as a humble drive-thru burger box, it has developed into an icon for burgers and fast food all over USA’s west coast. At In-N-Out Hollywood on a crazy-busy summer’s day, I experienced another possible meaning behind their name: you order, look around desperately for somewhere to sit, claim it and wait for your number to be called. Then after I ate my burger, I felt so bad with people staring at my place, I took some notes and made for the door. The layout is not dissimilar to your McTypical fast food joint: basic, nonintrusive decor and seating, all very fitting to let you focus on the meal you are sure to devour. I ordered from the Not-So-Secret Menu where I took my Cheeseburger and turned it Animal Style. This consisted of a baked plain burger bun, a mustard cooked beef pattie, American cheese, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup and grilled onions.

“Screw the cab driver who on the way to drop me off kept on ragging on In-N-Out and why I shouldn’t eat meat! Although, the man had a parrot, so who was I to argue at that point in time. Once inside, amidst the calamity of people getting their orders and the tourists not knowing what to get, I managed to weasel a counter seat, claimed it and waited for my number to be called. Bingo! I unwrapped my special package and was immediately blown away with all of the American cheese oozing out. After taking a few snaps I sunk my teeth in. At first it was soft, then you hit the meat and onions and got a wicked crunch. The mustard cooked pattie + grilled onions were filled with a salty awesomeness thats hard to compare to another fast-food chain. However, the pickles were average and could’ve done with some more juiciness. This burger is probably not the highest quality or best thing for you but damn its tasty. Being a stinking hot LA day the air-con was on full blast and ended up making my chips go cold. I ate them all the same but they weren’t memorable. If I wasn’t in a rush I would’ve gladly had another one. Frankly I’d advise most people to go the double or triple if you want to avoid multiple orders. If these guys brought their business Down Under I’d be one of the first people in line. It was like crack damn-it. Thats right I said crack!”

Kiwi Fish and Chips – 412-442 Victoria Pde (in the Tribeca Apartments), East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

One kilometer away from Melbourne’s CBD you’ll find Tribeca Apartments. Nestled amidst their plaza, strip of cafes and shops is Kiwi Fish and Chips. Surrounded by a lot of people waiting to pick up their orders, we sat eating at their communal dining table (signing the odd autograph or two), when suddenly the attention turned to the counter. Fresh from winning the AFL Grand Final, the Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse stops in to have a chat and pick up some dinner for the family! So apart from the random celebrity siting, Kiwi Fish and Chips offers a traditional fish and chip shop menu including burgers, souvlaki and banana fritters, as well as a range of fresh fish that you can take home and cook if your feeling a little bit “Masterchef”. We ended up ordering the Aussie Beef Burger that includes a traditional sesame-seeded bun, a beef pattie, fried egg, onion, cheese, lettuce and tomato. For an extra dollar you can get the Kiwi Burger that comes with added pineapple and beetroot. For those ex-pat Kiwis out there, they even have Lemon & Paeroa (BYO Southern Comfort of course).

“I found this burger pretty choice ay! The bacon was fantastic and was cooked just right; crispy at the edges but still soft in the middle. I really enjoyed the onions. They reminded me of something you’d find on a good hot dog. The beef pattie was quite peppery and had a rough texture to it. The only thing I would suggest is to have the egg less cooked so it were a bit runny and that they’d add tomato sauce from the get-go. Oh the chups were choice as too!”

“With not much competition and other dining options available I can understand why this place was so busy. The burger was good but there was nothing special about it. The beef on its own was quite tough, but flavour-wise wasn’t noticable in the burger. You’ll definitely need to add ketchup. The banana fritter was amazing!”

“For a Fish’ n’ Chip Shop burger I thought it was pretty good. The beef was well sized and seasoned, onions caramelised to perfection and the bacon held it’s own. Two things that I thought slightly went against it was that there was no tomato sauce, which I found it needed. Even a base amount of sauce would have been a good thing and from there it can be up to the customer to add more if they wanted. The second thing was the lettuce.. a little too much. Chips were pretty good too.”

“The bacon was the first thing that grabbed me. It had just the right amount of crunch and saltiness shining through. The beef was altogether enjoyable and peppery, but I would recommend grabbing some ketchup to add some of that sweet zestiness that the orignal was lacking. My hat (if I were wearing one) goes off to the chefs. So many places tend screw this classic, simple but oversized kind-of-a-burger up. One wonders if there is some competition here for the acclaimed Andrews Hamburgers? Next time we’ll ask Mick.”